Letters to God

By: Patrick Doughtie, and John Perry

Inspired by the major motion picture Letters to

God, this novel is for readers eager to read more of
this inspiring story. Tyler, a nine-year-old boy, is
stricken with incurable brain cancer and begins to
write letters to God. He turns his suffering into
spiritual lessons for his widowed mother, his
embittered adolescent brother, and a troubled
postman. This story of hope will help readers from
all walks work toward greater understanding of
God’s presence and care.

Letters to God Series:

• Prayer: Your Own Letter to God
• Hope is Contagious
• Letters to God Journal
• Letters to God Bible
• Dear God
• Letters to God Picture Book

Learn More | Letters to God Series | Zondervan on Scribd | Zondervan.com

 ZONDERVAN

Letters to God
Copyright © 2010 by Patrick Doughtie and John Perry

This title is also available as a Zondervan ebook.

Visit www.zondervan.com/ebooks.

This title is also available in a Zondervan audio edition.

Visit www.zondervan.fm.

Requests for information should be addressed to:

Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Doughtie, Patrick –
Letters to God : from the major motion picture / Patrick Doughtie and John
Perry.
p.  cm.
Summary: Inspired by the major motion picture Letters to God, this novel is
for readers eager to read more of this inspiring story. Tyler, a nine-year-old boy,
is stricken with incurable brain cancer and begins to write letters to God. He
turns his suffering into spiritual lessons for his widowed mother, his embittered
adolescent brother, and a troubled postman. This story of hope will help
readers from all walks work toward greater understanding of God’s presence
and care.
ISBN  978-0-310-32765-3 (softcover)
1. Brain — Cancer — Patients — Fiction. 2. Epistolary fiction. I. Perry, John,
1952 – II. Title.
PS3604.O923L48  2010
813'.6 — dc22 2009051237

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible,
New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used
by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

Any Internet addresses (websites, blogs, etc.) and telephone numbers printed in this
book are offered as a resource. They are not intended in any way to be or imply an
endorsement by Zondervan, nor does Zondervan vouch for the content of these sites
and numbers for the life of this book.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a

retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means — electronic, mechanical,
photocopy, recording, or any other — except for brief quotations in printed reviews,
without the prior permission of the publisher.

Published in association with the literary agency of Wolgemuth & Associates, Inc.

Interior design: Michelle Espinoza

Printed in the United States of America

10  11  12  13  14  15  16  /DCI/  22  21  20  19  18  17  16  15  14  13  12  11  10  9  8  7  6  5  4

0310327652_letrs2god_int.indd 4 2/26/10 7:49 AM

 To
Savanah and Brendan Doughtie,
Olivia Perry, and Charles Perry here,
and Tyler there

0310327652_letrs2god_int.indd 5 2/26/10 7:49 AM

 1

Patrick

P atrick Doherty fished around in the desk drawer for a pencil

without taking his eyes off the page. Not that he was in a
hurry; he just never wanted to waste any of his precious quiet
time. A small circle of light fell from a lamp in the corner where
he sat. The street outside was still dark, and his wife, Maddy,
still slept, burrowed deep under the covers, her breathing slow
and regular. Very soon a high-energy three-year-old would come
bounding into the bedroom and quiet time would be over. As
much as he loved his son’s morning hello, he wanted to finish a
­couple of things first.
Rereading a sentence, Patrick underlined three lines in his
Bible and jotted a thought out to the side, where the margins
were already peppered with years’ worth of questions, comments,
and references. To him it made sense to have his notes handy
like that.
Patrick finished reading, then cracked open the window
blinds enough to send a few thin parallel strips of dawn light
across the desktop. Sliding open the lap drawer, he took out a
notebook with a handwritten title on the front: Letters to God.
He flipped through to the first blank page and sat thinking for
a minute before starting to write rapidly, the words tumbling out
almost faster than he could get them down. He paused, read over
9

0310327652_letrs2god.indd 9 12/21/09 2:35 PM

 10 Letters to God

what he’d written, and smiled, looking at his wife and wishing
she’d open her eyes and look back. He loved her eyes.
As he started writing again, he heard little feet scurrying
down the hall and a voice chirping, “Rise and shine! Rise and
shine!”
“Hey, Tiger,” Patrick said.
“Hey, Dad,” Tyler Doherty answered from the bedroom door-
way, then looked at the lump in the bed. “Hey, Mom! Time to
get up!”
The lump rustled only a little. “Not yet, sweetie. Mommy
needs more sleep.”
“But I’m hungry.”
“Don’t worry, Ty,” the lump answered groggily. “You won’t
starve to death. Mommy’ll be up in a minute.”
Ty pattered over to the desk in the corner where his father
sat and looked out through the blinds. The sun rising behind the
big moss-covered live oaks that lined the street gave them long,
crisp shadows on the pavement. Ty liked watching the sun come
up. He saw ­people walking their dogs on the sidewalk and a car
backing out of the driveway in front of a blue house across the
way. A few doors down, his friend Samantha’s dad came out to
get the paper. Turning to look at his dad, Ty was at eye level with
the open notebook.
“Whatcha doing, Daddy?”
“Writing.”
“Writing what?”
“I’m writing a letter to God.”
“Wow!” Ty was impressed. “Will he write you back?”
How, at six thirty in the morning, could he explain this to a
three-year-old, even a very sharp three-year-old?
“Well, no . . . I mean, yes, in a way, Son.”

0310327652_letrs2god.indd 10 12/21/09 2:35 PM

 Patrick 11

Ty furrowed his little brow. Maddy was up now, and Patrick

looked at her with a silent plea for help.
“You’re on your own, messenger boy,” she said to Patrick with
a chuckle as she headed down the hall to root Ben out of bed. Ty’s
eleven-year-old brother was the certified baghound in the family.
“When I write a letter to God, it’s my way of talking to him.
I’m praying, really.”
Ty thought it over. “Why don’t you just talk to him then?”
“Well, I’ve always had a hard time praying, and it’s easier for
me to write him a letter. Sometimes he answers them, but not
with another letter exactly. You see?”
Tyler shook his head.
“You will, you will.” Patrick laughed, ran his hand over Ty’s
light blond hair, then held out his arms for Ty to jump into them.
“I love you, Ty.”
“I love you, Daddy.”
Glancing at the bedside alarm, Patrick set Ty on the bed and
stood. “I’ve got to get ready for work, Son. We’ll talk more about
it later. Go help your mom wake Ben up for school.”
“Okay!” With a yelp of excitement, Ty raced through the
hall, screaming, “Ben! Get up!” Sliding to a halt in his older
brother’s bedroom doorway, he waved the door back and forth,
then banged it open against the wall. “Rise and shine!”
Two blue eyes topped by a nest of dark hair peered out from
under the sheet. “Get lost, dork,” came a voice from somewhere
in the pile.
Ty pivoted on one foot and bolted back to his parents’ room.
It was empty; Mom was downstairs starting breakfast and Dad
was in the bathroom with the door closed. Ty could hear the
shower running. He walked over to the desk where his dad’s note-
book still lay open. This was the perfect time to draw Daddy a

0310327652_letrs2god.indd 11 12/21/09 2:35 PM

 12 Letters to God

picture! Ty grabbed the pencil and made a circle beside two stick
figures, one larger than the other; it was him and his dad and the
sunrise. Hearing the shower shut off, he dropped the pencil in the
middle of the notebook and ran giggling from the room.
Patrick appeared wrapped in a bathrobe, briskly rubbing his
wet hair with a towel. He was an inch or so over six feet, though
his muscular shoulders and athletic posture made him seem even
taller. Physical labor had kept his body lean, only a few pounds
heavier than his playing weight a dozen years ago on the way to
a baseball scholarship. His freshly shaven face was lightly lined,
tanned and ruddy from years of working outdoors, the deep blue
eyes framed by thick dark hair. Ben had his hair and eyes. Ty was
brown-eyed and blond like his mother.
Patrick looked toward the sound of giggles and footsteps in
the hall, then at the desk. Picking up his notebook, he saw the
scribbles on top of that morning’s letter. His frown of irritation
changed to a wide grin as he read the last sentence he’d written:
“And Lord, all I ask is for a little sunshine today, something to
make it a little better than yesterday.” There his sunshine was,
taking up nearly the whole page.
“Thank you, Lord,” he said, looking upward. “I haven’t even
left the house yet this morning, and you’ve already answered my
prayer.”
As he headed for the kitchen a few minutes later, the smell
of cinnamon toast — ​the boys’ favorite­ — ​met him on the stairs.
The Doherty home was the airy, rambling kind of old house that
some ­people called “four square,” with a bedroom upstairs in each
corner and a big stair hall in the middle. The high ceilings helped
keep it cool during the Orlando summers, and big windows let
in lots of light in the wintertime. Patrick was dressed for “the
office” — ​jeans, a work shirt, heavy boots, and a baseball cap, to

0310327652_letrs2god.indd 12 12/21/09 2:35 PM

 Patrick 13

which he would shortly add a tool belt and nail apron. His strong,
calloused hands came not from pushing papers behind a desk but
from long days as a carpenter, carrying, cutting, measuring, and
fitting lumber, swinging a sixteen-ounce hammer, and climbing
around construction sites.
Passing by Ben and Ty at the breakfast table, he reached for
a mug of steaming coffee waiting on the counter. Expertly jug-
gling the mug, he took a Thermos and lunchbox from Maddy’s
outstretched hands, gave her a kiss on the lips, and headed for
the door.
“Hey, Dad,” Ben hollered after him, “you’re gonna make it to
my football game today, right?”
Patrick stopped in his tracks and cut his eyes over to Maddy.
Behind the children and out of their sight, she held up an out-
stretched palm, wiggling all five fingers.
“Uh, yeah. It starts at five, right?”
“Right!” Ben said, grinning.
“Wouldn’t miss it!”
Maddy flagged for his attention. “You don’t have to work
tonight?”
“I’ll be there.” He shot her a look that said, “Don’t you worry
about it; I’ll take care of things,” then a quick smile in Ben’s direc-
tion as he continued out the door. “I love you guys.”
“I love you too,” the chorus answered, and he was gone. They
heard his truck start then watched him drive across in front of
the house and out of sight.
He hadn’t wanted that second job working nights for a janito-
rial ser­vice. It took him away from supper time and evenings with
his family, and what little time he was home he felt bushed. But
he didn’t see any choice. Even though new homes were going up
all over south Florida and the carpentry business was booming,

0310327652_letrs2god.indd 13 12/21/09 2:35 PM

 14 Letters to God

he couldn’t seem to get ahead on his construction salary. “Make

my own mess by day, clean up somebody else’s mess by night”
was the way he put it. At least the night work was physically easy
even if it was boring: sweeping, mopping, and emptying trash at
a bank downtown.
At 7:30 a.m. sharp, Patrick pulled into the job site, a new
house on a big lot at the edge of town, and parked in a row of
trucks shaded by a cluster of date palms. Before grabbing his tool
belt, he flipped down the sun visor where a favorite picture, the
four of them at the beach, was slipped under a rubber band. He
nodded at it as he opened the door. “It’s all for you guys,” he
said and headed across the lot and around pallets of construction
materials to his table saw.
Patrick liked carpentry work and knew he had a knack for it.
He liked the physical part of the job, spending the day outside,
moving around, breathing fresh air. He never knew how so many
­people in the world could spend the day sitting behind a desk
with a tie on.
He’d hoped to slip away a few minutes early for Ben’s game,
but with all the rain the last ­couple of weeks he was behind sched-
ule and just couldn’t manage it. By the time he finally headed for
the field, the first drive of the second quarter was under way and
Hill Middle School had the ball on their own forty-four.

≈
Ben popped his head up out of the huddle of eleven- and
twelve-year-olds and scanned the bleachers. He said he’d be here.
He looked at his mother. As Ty jumped up and down beside her,
she met his gaze with a big thumbs-up. She hoped Patrick would
make the game, but it was getting late.

0310327652_letrs2god.indd 14 12/21/09 2:35 PM

 Patrick 15

“Doherty, listen up!” The quarterback gave Ben a smack on

the shoulder pad and he stuck his head back into the circle. “Pro
right, student body left. Ready? Break!” With a grunt and a hand
clap, the team jogged toward the line of scrimmage. Taking his
place in the backfield, Ben suddenly couldn’t remember whether
it was student body right or student body left.
“Hey!” he said in a hoarse whisper to the fullback taking his
stance beside him. “Right or left?” The quarterback barked off
the cadence. Out of the corner of his eye, a movement caught
Ben’s attention. He knew that shape, that walk, instantly. He’s
here. He made it.
“It’s left.” Ben turned his head and stared blankly at the full-
back. “Left!” the stocky youngster said again.
“Hike!”
Ben swept left, looked over his right shoulder, and saw the
football sailing at him. Making the catch, he darted around the
defense, picked up a blocker, and pounded a good dozen yards
into enemy territory before two tacklers finally brought him
down. Scrambling to his feet, he tossed the ball to the referee.
He looked toward the stands and saw his dad watching from the
sideline, applauding vigorously with his hands high over his head.
He gave Ben a thumbs-up, then pointed toward the sky. Ben sent
the same signals back.

≈
From her seat in the front row of bleachers, Maddy spotted
her husband and caught his exchange with Ben. Ty saw him too,
and before Maddy could grab him he darted off to greet him.
Maddy followed Ty with her eyes as he scurried to his father,
clutching him around the knees. Patrick hoisted his son into the

0310327652_letrs2god.indd 15 12/21/09 2:35 PM

 16 Letters to God

air and hugged him close. Maddy could hear them both laughing
even from where she sat. Patrick waved at her, then, with Ty in
his arms, picked his way back to where she was sitting.
As the three of them took their places, Maddy squeezed Pat-
rick’s arm. “I’m so glad you got here.” Her wavy dark blonde hair
blew in the breeze and the sun brought out the freckles on her
nose. Every time Patrick saw her, he thought she was more beau-
tiful than the time before. He especially liked that mischievous
upturn at the corners of her mouth.
“Me too,” Patrick answered. “I wouldn’t have missed it, but I
can’t stay long.”
She saw the weariness in his eyes. Working two jobs was such
a drain on him. “Why don’t you call in and say you’ll be a little
late tonight?”
“I’d love to,” he sighed. “But I can’t. You know that.”
“I know.”
The three of them watched the rest of the second quarter
together, Patrick and Maddy holding hands and Ty on his dad’s
lap. As the clock ran out and the whistle sounded, Patrick looked
at his watch. He sat Ty on the seat beside him and stood up.
“Tell Ben I love him and that he played an awesome game.
Tell him that run was fantastic.” As Ben jogged toward the side-
line, he saw his father leaving. Catching his eye, he gave him a
thumbs-up and pointed to the sky. Patrick signaled back.
“Daddy, I want to go with you,” Tyler said, grabbing him
around the legs. “Pleeeease?”
“Not this time, Tiger, but some day soon. I promise you I
could use the help.” He mussed Tyler’s hair, then put his arm
around Maddy’s shoulder and pulled her to him. “Good-bye,
love,” he said. “See you tonight.” He gave her a peck on the lips,
disappeared into the halftime crowd, and was gone.

0310327652_letrs2god.indd 16 12/21/09 2:35 PM

 Patrick 17

It took him longer than he expected to get to his night job,

and he hoped he could slide in without the shift manager notic-
ing. Gary was a sourpuss to start with, and a stickler for punctual-
ity on top of that. He did not like his ­people being tardy. They
met in the hallway.
“You’re late,” Gary grumped, tapping his wristwatch.
“I know. I’m sorry. I’ll make it up at the end of the night.”
“You certainly will.” Gary walked stiffly away as Patrick
headed toward the equipment closet.
It was going to be a long night. Still, at least he had gotten to
see part of Ben’s game. Yes, he was ten minutes late for work, but
it was worth the snide remark to have been there for that fabu-
lous run. He hadn’t been able to eat dinner at home, though, and
he missed that. Time with his family was so precious; he chafed
at every minute he was away from them.
One good thing about his night job was that it gave him
time to think. Days on the construction site were all action and
noise, but at the bank after hours he could reflect on his life
and how, in spite of the challenges and mistakes of the past, the
future looked really promising. He knew he had God to thank
for all the joy his wife and children brought him. He knew too
that when God had a message for him, he often sent it through
Maddy’s mother. Olivia — ​the kids called her Granna — ​was the
one who had taught him about ­Jesus Christ and who convinced
him of the value of passing that faith along to his sons. She was
relentless but she was right. Patrick had long since lost count of
how many times his faith had gotten him through struggles and
hardships that would have swamped him otherwise.
It was twelve thirty when he turned off the buffer and criti-
cally surveyed the lobby floor, stripped, waxed, polished, and
shining like glass. It was too late to call home; Maddy would

0310327652_letrs2god.indd 17 12/21/09 2:35 PM

 18 Letters to God

be sound asleep by now. In six hours he’d have a three-year-old

bouncing on his chest and would be starting the whole routine
over again.
Weary to the bone, he climbed into his truck, already think-
ing of his quiet house, warm sheets, and his wife asleep in the bed
beside him. He headed onto the familiar two-lane road that led to
his neighborhood, listening to the radio to stay alert. He ran his
hand down his face, relieved that the long day was over at last.
Stretching out one arm, he bumped the sun visor above his
head, knocking loose something that fluttered down in front of
his face. The beach photo. He’d be careful not to step on it. He’d
have to remember to pick it up after he got to the house. Couldn’t
go feeling around for it in the dark.
He’d only taken his eyes off the road for an instant, but look-
ing ahead now he saw a car straight ahead in his lane, headlights
framing his windshield and closing fast. Where’d this guy come
from? Reflexively he jerked the wheel to the right with both
hands. Too late. The vehicles hit head-on with a dull, metallic
crunch. Patrick’s pickup flipped, spun, hit a tree, and came to
rest upside-down in a ditch. The other vehicle, an SUV, stayed
upright on the road, its front end demolished to the firewall, win-
dows broken, front tires in shreds.
Patrick came to consciousness awash in pain, his legs throb-
bing, the nerves in his back pulsing like electric shocks. He
opened his eyes and saw that he was upside-down, suspended by
his seat belt, looking out through the broken and bloody wind-
shield. The cab was crushed in every direction, smashed around
his head and torso, leaving only inches between his body and
outcroppings of twisted, broken metal. Weakly he grabbed the
steering wheel and tried to pull himself around, but the motion
sent searing jolts of pain through his body and he let go of the

0310327652_letrs2god.indd 18 12/21/09 2:35 PM

 Patrick 19

wheel with a scream. His legs were caught under the dashboard,
which was jammed up against his chest. Other than the pain, he
had no feeling anywhere. There was blood but he couldn’t tell
where it came from.
Drifting in and out, Patrick didn’t know how long he dan-
gled there before he heard voices and saw lights. A face appeared
through a gap in the wreckage. “Don’t worry,” it said, “we’ll get
you out. You’re going to be all right.” He saw a DayGlo green coat
and a fireman’s hat.
“Call Maddy, please, call my wife,” Patrick managed to say.
He felt something sticky on his arms. Lifting them to his face, he
could see by the rescue lights that they were covered in blood.
He closed his eyes and the light went away. Soon the sound went
away too.

0310327652_letrs2god.indd 19 12/21/09 2:35 PM

 2

Manslaughter

A t first Maddy thought it was the alarm clock. How could

it be six thirty already? She slapped at it several times but
the racket continued. Roused from a deep sleep, she stared bleary-
eyed at the numbers. One thirty. “Honey?” she said, feeling for
the pillow beside her. “Patrick?” His side of the bed was empty.
It was the phone. She picked it up warily. “Hello?”
“Mrs. Madalynn Doherty?”
“Speaking.”
“This is the emergency room duty nurse at Memorial Medical
Center.”
Maddy was suddenly wide awake, every nerve engaged.
“Your husband has been in a traffic accident. He was brought
here by LifeFlight.”
“Is it serious?”
“You can talk to the doctor when you get here. But you need
to come right away.”
“Okay. I’m coming.” Moving on autopilot, Maddy slipped
into a jogging suit and ran a comb through her hair. She’d call
her mother to stay with the boys. No, she couldn’t wait that long.
The boys could go with her.
“Mom?” Ben was standing in the bedroom doorway in a
T-shirt and boxers. “What’s going on?” His voice was groggy with
21

0310327652_letrs2god.indd 21 12/21/09 2:35 PM

 22 Letters to God

sleep, his hair spiking in every direction. She looked at him, tying
her shoes. “Where are you going?” He glanced around. “Where’s
Dad?”
“Your dad’s been in an accident.” She fought to keep in con-
trol. She didn’t want to scare the boys unnecessarily. Maybe it
wasn’t all that bad. “Wake up your brother and get some shoes
on. We have to go.”
Ben rushed to Ty’s room and shook him awake. “Tyler, come
on, wake up! We have to go!”
“Leave me alone,” Ty warned. Ben stooped down over his
brother, gathered him up, and started down the hall holding him
in his arms. “I’m telling Mom!” Ty yelled. The two of them met
their mother at the top of the stairs. “Mom — ​!”
“It’s okay, Ty. We’re all going for a ride.”
Putting his brother down, Ben ducked into his room and
pulled on jeans and a shirt while Maddy helped Ty get dressed,
then carried him down the stairs with Ben following. They
piled into the van, pulling out onto the empty street as Maddy
reached for her cell phone. She’d have her mother meet them at
the hospital.

≈
By the time the gurney carrying Patrick Doherty came bang-
ing through the double doors of the ER, nobody who’d treated
him on the medical chopper thought he would make it. His legs
were crushed from the waist down. He had serious internal inju-
ries. Most critical was the swelling of his brain that, if it hadn’t
already killed him, would likely make him an invalid for life. Yet
somehow, miraculously, he was still hanging on.
The gurney wheeled past a second patient, the driver of the

0310327652_letrs2god.indd 22 12/21/09 2:35 PM

 Manslaughter 23

other car, who’d arrived by ambulance while the rescue workers

were still trying to cut Patrick out of the remains of his truck. The
man had a butterfly bandage on his forehead and eleven stitches
in his left hand. He sat on the edge of an examining table sur-
rounded by a doctor, a nurse, and two policemen.
“So you haven’t had anything to drink tonight,” one of the
policemen was saying.
“I swear, officer, I haven’t had a drop,” the man answered. He
was in his early sixties with a head of luxuriant iron-gray hair. He
wore a yellow silk sport shirt. “Not a drop all day.”
The policemen knew better. The dull expression and
unsteady walk could have been caused by the wreck, but they
didn’t think so.
“We found eight empty beer cans in the back floor of your
car,” said the other officer, matter-of-factly.
“It must have been the kids,” the man explained.
“Then you won’t mind taking a breathalyzer test, will you?”
“Hey, wait a minute. I told you I haven’t been drinking. Why
waste the taxpayers’ money . . . ?” Their conversation continued
as a medical team clustered around Patrick, motionless on an
examining table, bristling with tubes and sensors.

≈
Outside, following the blue neon “Emergency” arrows, Maddy
drove up near the entrance and parked as close as she could. She
and the boys raced through the automatic doors and up to the
desk, anxious and out of breath.
“My husband’s Patrick Doherty. I got a call saying there’d
been an accident.”
“I’ll find out where he is,” a nurse behind the desk answered.

0310327652_letrs2god.indd 23 12/21/09 2:35 PM

 24 Letters to God

“Just a minute.” She scanned a computer screen, tapped a few

strokes, read something, then tapped again.
“Hurry, please,” Maddy said. Eyes still on the screen, the
nurse waved her hand in a yeah, don’t worry about it way. Maddy
fidgeted nervously, shifting her weight, tapping her fingers on the
counter. The boys watched in silence.
“He’s in surgery, ma’am,” the nurse reported, her voice
emotionless.
“What’s wrong with him? How bad is he hurt?” Her voice was
getting louder as she felt the panic rising.
“This is all the information I have, ma’am. I’ll notify the
doctor that you’re here, and he’ll be with you as soon as he can.”
She was about to say, “I want to know something now!” when
the entrance doors slid open and her mother marched briskly in,
moving fast despite her ample figure, dressed in pajamas, sequined
slippers, and a bathrobe printed with pink cabbage roses. Her
hair — ​strawberry blonde mixed with gray — ​was in rollers, each
one wrapped in toilet paper, which made them easier to sleep on.
The spectacle startled Maddy so much that she forgot for a
moment how mad and afraid she was. “Mother!” she squeaked.
“The least you could have done was take the toilet paper off your
head!”
“Who cares about toilet paper!” her mother declared. “How’s
Patrick?”
“I don’t know. They won’t tell me anything.”
“Come over here and sit down.” She herded her daughter and
grandsons to an empty row of chairs in the waiting area. The two
women sat down while the boys stood in front of them, guided
into place by their grandmother’s steady hands. “Let’s pray,” she
said. They all nodded. Of course that would be the first thing
she’d think to do.

0310327652_letrs2god.indd 24 12/21/09 2:35 PM

 Manslaughter 25

As they bowed their heads, a policeman walked into the

room carrying a small box. “Is there a Mrs. Doherty here?” he
asked.
“Here!” Maddy jumped to her feet. “I’m Maddy Doherty.”
He motioned her over to where he was standing so the two
of them could talk in relative privacy. “I’m sorry about your hus-
band. These are his personal belongings we recovered at the
scene before they towed his truck.” He held up the box.
Maddy held her hands out reflexively and took the box.
“What happened?”
“Your husband was in a head-on collision with another vehi-
cle. Because of the damage to the cab, we had to cut him out of
his truck. The other driver is being treated for minor injuries.
He is going to be arrested for driving under the influence and
vehicular manslaughter. We found a pile of empty beer cans in
his car, and he flunked his sobriety test — ​point-one-one and the
legal limit is point-oh-eight. He had five or six drinks for sure,
maybe more.”
The color drained from Maddy’s face. Her mother saw her
stumble, then regain her balance. Olivia motioned for the boys to
stay put and walked over to where Maddy and the officer stood.
“Manslaughter?” Maddy repeated. Her mouth would hardly
form the word. “I don’t understand. Was there someone who died?
The nurse just told me my husband was in surgery — ”
Now it was the officer’s turn to blanch. He looked at Granna,
then at Maddy, then back at Granna. “Oh, uh, ma’am, I’m so
sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. I don’t really know how your
husband is. It’s just that he looked so bad when we got him out, I
didn’t think he’d make it. I’m — ​I — ”
“Not make it?!” Maddy felt the panic coming again. The
tears welled up.

0310327652_letrs2god.indd 25 12/21/09 2:35 PM

 26 Letters to God

“Maddy!” her mother called out. “Honey, he doesn’t know

anything. He’s just trying to help.” She gestured with her head.
“The kids!” she added quietly.
Maddy looked across at her sons, frightened and frozen in
their seats. They could see but not hear what was happening;
they didn’t know what to think, what to do.
“Thank you, officer,” Granna said. “We appreciate your help.”
The policeman left quickly, a look of genuine relief on his face at
the chance to get out of there.
“Let’s all go get something to eat,” Granna said, loudly
enough for the boys to hear, as she started for the snack bar. “Tell
them we’re in there,” she said to the nurse behind the desk, point-
ing through the doorway.

≈
Mother and daughter sat side by side at a table, untouched
cups of vending-machine coffee in front of them. The boys had
been gobbling candy bars and other junk that was usually off-
limits, courtesy of their grandmother. It was 3:30 in the morning
and the four of them waited alone. Finally the door opened and a
doctor walked slowly in. He was middle-aged, slightly overweight,
and absolutely exhausted. He wore surgical scrubs with a green
cap tied around his head and a mask pulled down around his
neck. Maddy walked toward him.
“Are you Mrs. Doherty?” the doctor asked wearily.
“Yes. How is he?”
“Would you come with me, please?” He turned and opened
the door for her. They walked back into the empty waiting room
and sat down in the first row of chairs. The doctor folded his arms
in silence, gathering his thoughts.

0310327652_letrs2god.indd 26 12/21/09 2:35 PM

 Manslaughter 27

“Your husband suffered a traumatic brain injury,” he began.

“The swelling could not be hemostatically arrested. He suf-
fered concurrently from deep pulmonary lacerations caused by a
dozen fractured ribs consistent with a deceleration event of this
magnitude.”
Maddy stared at the doctor, motionless, tears streaming down
her face. “Can you say that in English, please?”
The doctor pressed his lips together and raised his fingertips
to them, then cradled his chin in his thumb and forefinger. He
looked at the ground; he looked up into her eyes.
“Mrs. Doherty, I’m sorry. Your husband didn’t make it.”

0310327652_letrs2god.indd 27 12/21/09 2:35 PM